Measuring Up: Why Do Donors Give?

We were taken with The Nonprofiteer's recent post, Meditations of the Idle Rich, in which she ruminated about her own motives and behavior as a donor.

Speaking of herself, she confessed:

“…she doesn't know what, precisely, she's doing with her charity — repaying debts, or enacting ideals, or solving problems, or ameliorating suffering. Needless to say, until it's clear what she's trying to do it's hard to tell whether or not she's succeeding.”

This candid observation reminds us just how complicated it is to establish metrics for holding grantees (whether recipients of $25 million or $25 gifts) accountable. It all starts with original expectations doesn't it … and those can be fuzzy and complicated.